Argentine judge issues warrant for bombing suspect

BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — An Argentine federal judge issued an arrest warrant for a Colombian man accused of being a key organizer in an attack on a Buenos Aires Jewish center.

Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral on Tuesday requested the international arrest of Samuel Salman El Reda, considered to a major figure in the July 18, 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center, which killed 85 people and wounded hundreds.

District Attorney Alberto Nisman had made the request for the arrest warrant three weeks ago.

El Reda, 42, is the son of Lebanese parents and is married to an Argentine woman. According to the investigation, he had lived in Argentina from at least 1987 until two hours before the terrorist attack.

Reda is accused of having ties to Mohsen Rabbani, a former cultural attache of the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires who is also under an international arrest warrant.